Foxconn Could Open Factories In The US

Steve McCaskill is editor of TechWeekEurope and ChannelBiz. He joined
as a reporter in 2011 and covers all areas of IT, with a particular interest in telecommunications, mobile and networking, along with sports technology.

Foxconn is reportedly evaluating areas in Los Angeles and Detroit for TV assembly

Foxconn is reportedly considering opening a number of factories in the US as a response to rising labour costs in China.

The factories would assemble televisions using robots, which may be far more effective than its production process in China, which largely involves assembling products by hand.

Los Angeles and Detroit are among the locations currently being evaluated by Foxconn. Any factory could go some way to helping President Obama fulfil his promise to create one million manufacturing jobs in the next four years.

Foxconn US factories planned?

The Guardian reports that Terry Gou, CEO of Foxconn, was planning to invite American engineers to its factories in China to learn about manufacturing. Yet he also said he didn’t believe Obama could attract manufacturing back to the US because production had been outsourced for so long.

However, Foxconn would have to alter its working practices in the US, which have come under increasing scrutiny in recent times following a number of employee suicides and factory incidents.

Apple was so concerned it sent the Fair Labor Association to examine working conditions in its supply chain, resulting in improved working conditions for Foxconn’s 800,000 workers in mainland China.

Wages have more than doubled since the FLA’s investigation, while the maximum working time has been brought down in order to comply with the Chinese legal limit for overtime. However last month, Foxconn confessed it has been employing teenagers as young as 14 to work in one of its factories. According to Chinese law, employers can be fined or have their business licenses revoked for hiring workers under 16.